So I can’t Ski…

On Monday 15 Feb we ‘checked out of the snow hotel’ and caught a flight to Tromso for the last leg of our journey.

Surprise of the morning – 500ml Coke Zero at 45 NOK for 2 at the tax free airport shop. Never been so happy to have a coke in my life – my precious 😛

The flight was uneventful and we took the flybussen to within a few 100 meters from our hotel. Dragging the luggage around in the snow was quite a new experience and I have new respect for Samsonite.

While we were waiting for check-in (our room still being cleaned) we stored the luggage and walked to Tromso outdoor to pay for the winter activity trip that evening. They also took the opportunity to fit the snowshoes to ensure that we get the correct size. That was the main mission for the day – and it was much easier to find the shop that I thought it would be. We had a coffee and complementary waffle and then only was our room ready for check-in.

To my surprise we got allocated a loft room, instead of the room I initially booked. The view is definitely worth the schlep of getting the cases up the last floor of wooden steps. Getting them down again for check out tomorrow morning… we’ll cross that bridge when we get there…

We only had time to unpack a few essentials and arrange for something to eat when we come back before we had to head out into the snow to meet the guide at a different hotel.

I was quite worried about the success of this outdoor activity excursion, given the wind and amount of snow falling. A UK family with two young girls joined us and we drove to a park area on another ‘island’. Here we were given the opportunity to try cross-country ski-ing… nope, I cant do that and I feel claustrophobic being ‘clicked’ into those ski’s.

Given that feeling, I gave the snow-shoes a miss – further clicking of boots into gadets required…. shudder.

I enjoyed the plastic snow mats that you can use as sleds down-hill and did this quite a few times.

Our guide made a fire at ‘base-camp’ and we had warming berry juice and some traditional cinnamon cakes during our breaks. It was fun watching the kids play and ‘dad’ re-discovering his ski-skills.

The weather cleared up so the trip was enjoyable, but we did not see any Northern Lights. The speed at which the weather changes in Norway is amazing. Blasting snow one minute, clear skies the next. By the time we were returning home it was snowing heavily again.

As we missed supper, the hotel prepared some bread, cheese and cold meats for us, which was very lovely and deeply appreciated. Hot chocolate rounded off the meal.

And yes – we were stiff (as if we had run a marathon) the next day. Playing around with the kids is not for ‘sissies’…